Montreal produces another IM norm!

[Lefong Hua]

The Montreal Winter Chess Classic was held from March 2-6, 2020. 55 players took part in the fourth edition of this tournament. Jason Liang's IM norm is the third norm produced by this tournament. Olivier Kenta Chiku-Ratté and Dagur Ragnarsson earned the two other norms during the second edition of this tournament (January 2019). Here are the results:

IM norm section: FM Jason Liang is dominant and earns his first IM norm after 7 rounds (!!!) with 6.5/7. He finishes in first place with 7/9 and 1000$. FM Rohan Talukdar finishes in second place with 6/9 and 500$.

Section A (1800+): Jordan Clyde finishes in first place with 4/5 and 500$. IM Olivier Kenta Chiku-Ratté finishes in second place with 3.5/5 and 200$.

Section B (U1800): Three players finish in first place with 4/5 and 134$ each: Isabelle Wang, Jiaqi He, Gwyn Chapdelaine.

Section C (Juniors U1200): Mikaël Pigot finishes in first place (tiebreak) with 4.5/5 while Dhruv Murali finishes in second place (tiebreak) with 4.5/5. Zihan Ho-El Abidi finishes in third place (tiebreak) with 3/5.

I would like to thank IA Bernard Ouimet (Chief arbiter) and Dan De Luca (Assistant arbiter) for their fantastic job. Thanks to Raphaël Nunez-Painchaud who has been amazing with the Campers. Thanks to all for participating, but mostly for supporting the cause of an IM norm tournament in Montreal.

The fifth edition of this tournament will probably be held from August 12-16. Although those dates are not official yet, they will be confirmed soon.

Results: http://chess-results.com/tnr510945.a...&art=1&flag=30
Games: https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-to...ssic-2020#live
Pictures: https://www.facebook.com/LigueEliteD...68278883397746

Best regards,

FM Lefong Hua

[Vadim Tsypin]

Bravo Lefong for organizing this biannual event that became a staple in the Montreal chess calendar and allowed so many bright young North American stars to achieve their objectives!

[Aris Marghetis]

Tip of the hat especially to Jordan Clyde. I've only met him recently, but have been impressed with his resilience. Him winning Section A over an IM seems pretty impressive. Well done man.

[Lefong Hua]

Vadim, I would like to thank you for the kind words. People should know that this event started with you as a Chief Arbiter, and you were great help to build this fantastic event!

Lefong Hua